This invention relates in general to fabricated vehicle wheels and in particular to an improved fabricated vehicle wheel, wheel rim for use in such a vehicle wheel, and method for producing the same.
A conventional fabricated bead seat attached vehicle wheel is of a two-piece construction and includes an inner wheel disc and an outer “full” wheel rim. The wheel disc can be cast, forged or fabricated from steel, aluminum, or other alloys, and includes an inner annular wheel mounting portion and an outer annular portion. The wheel mounting portion defines an inboard mounting surface and includes a center pilot or hub hole, and a plurality of lug receiving holes formed therethrough for mounting the wheel to an axle of the vehicle. The wheel rim can be cast, forged or fabricated from steel, aluminum, or other alloys, and includes an inboard tire bead seat retaining flange, an inboard tire bead seat, an axially extending well, an outboard tire bead seat, and an outboard tire bead seat retaining flange. In some instances, a three-piece wheel construction having a mounting cup secured to the wheel disc is used. In both types of constructions, the outer annular portion of the wheel disc is secured to the wheel rim by welding. Typically the wheel disc is secured to the wheel rim in the region of the well of the wheel rim, to thereby produce a well-attached fabricated vehicle wheel or in the region of the outer tire bead seat of the wheel rim, to thereby produce a bead-seat attached fabricated vehicle wheel.
A full face fabricated wheel is distinguished from other types of fabricated wheels by having a one-piece wheel disc construction. In particular, the full face wheel includes a “full face” disc and a “partial” rim. The full face disc can be formed cast, forged, or fabricated from steel, aluminum, or other alloys. The full face disc includes an inner annular wheel mounting portion and an outer annular portion which defines at least a portion of an outboard tire bead seat retaining flange of the wheel. The wheel mounting portion defines an inboard mounting surface and includes a center pilot or hub hole, and a plurality of lug receiving holes formed therethrough for mounting the wheel to an axle of the vehicle. The partial rim is fabricated from steel, aluminum, or other alloys, and includes an inboard tire bead seat retaining flange, an inboard tire bead seat, an axially extending well, and an outboard tire bead seat. In some instances, the outboard tire bead seat of the rim and the outer annular portion of the disc cooperate to form the outboard tire bead seat retaining flange of the full face wheel. In both types of constructions, the outboard tire bead seat of the rim is positioned adjacent the outer annular portion of the disc and a weld is applied to secure the rim and the disc together.
A typical sequence of steps which can be used to produce a wheel rim for a fabricated vehicle wheel is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,185,370 to Evans. As shown in this patent, the method includes the steps of: (a) providing a flat sheet of suitable material, such as aluminum or steel; (b) forming the sheet into a cylindrical hoop or band; (c) flaring the lateral edges of the hoop radially outwardly to produce a rim preform having flanges suitable for positioning on a roll forming machine; (d) subjecting the rim preform to a series of roll forming operations to produce a wheel rim having a predetermined shape; and (e) expanding the wheel rim to a produce a finished wheel rim having a predetermined circumference.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,962,587 to Ashley, Jr. et al. discloses another method for producing a wheel rim. According to the method of this patent, a preformed wheel rim is provided having opposed finished tire bead seat retaining flanges, opposed finished tire bead seat surfaces, a well, and an axially extending inboard leg. Next, the well and adjacent rim end are mounted on a mandrel and end plate, respectively, for rotation therewith. A flow spinning roller is then actuated and advanced to engage the well and inboard leg portion thereby thinning-stretching the well and leg portions of the preformed wheel rim.
Other methods for producing wheel rims by rolling or pressing operations are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,347,302 to Lemmerz, U.S. Pat. No. 4,127,022 to Bosch, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,143,533 to Bosch.